Job 19
1 Then Job answered,
Job replied,
2 “How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
“How long will you go on tormenting me? How long will you go on crushing me with words?
3 You have reproached me ten times. You are not ashamed that you attack me.
Ten times already you have humiliated me. Aren't you ashamed for treating me so badly?
4 If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
Even if I did sin, that's my problem, and has nothing to do with you.
5 If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
You think you're so much better than me, and you use my degradation against me.
6 know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
But you should realize that it's God who has wronged me, he has trapped me in his net.
7 “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
Even though I cry for help, I get no answer; even though I shout my objections, I get no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
God has walled me in so I can't escape; he has plunged my path into darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
He has stripped my honor from me; he has taken away my reputation.
10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
He tears me down from all sides until I am finished; he has destroyed my hope like a tree that is uprooted.
11 He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
His anger burns against me; he treats me as one of his enemies.
12 His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
God's troops assemble to attack me. They build ramparts against me. They encircle and besiege my home.
13 “He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
He has driven my brothers far away from me; all my former friends are estranged from me.
14 My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
My house guests and my maidservants treat me as a stranger—to them I have become a foreigner.
16 I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
I call my servant, but he doesn't reply. I have to beg him!
17 My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
I am repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers.
18 Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
Even young children despise me; when I stand up they ridicule me.
19 All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
All my closest friends despise me, and those I loved have turned on me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
I've been reduced to skin and bones and I survive by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, because God has struck me down!
22 Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Why are you persecuting me like God does? Aren't you satisfied with getting your pound of flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
I wish my words could be written down, recorded in a book,
24 That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
or engraved with an iron pen and molten lead in the rock forever.
25 But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
I know my Redeemer is alive, and that he shall finally take the stand for me on the earth.
26 After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
Even though my skin is destroyed, in my body I shall see God.
27 whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
I myself will see him—with my own eyes, and not those of someone else! The thought overcomes me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
You say to yourselves, ‘How can we make him suffer so he can see he is the source of his problems?’
29 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
You yourselves should fear being punished by God, for you know anger brings God's punishment that accompanies judgment.”
